's Best of 2001
Most 31-year olds can't boast of being the instigator of a revolution. But then again, the world's leading promoter of open source software and creator of the operating system Linux does humbly call himself an accidental revolutionary--accidental being the operative word here. Just for Fun is the quirky story of how Linus Torvalds went from being a penniless, introverted code writer in Helsinki in the early 1990s to being the unwitting (and rather less than penniless) leader of a radical shift in computer programming by the end of the decade.

OK, perhaps "story" in the traditional sense of the term is stretching it a bit. This whole book is more like a series of e-mails, an exercise in textual communication for someone more used to code language than conversation: choppy sentences packed into short paragraphs, and sometimes just one-liners. The pace is fast, but the quippy tone can get somewhat tiring, though it definitely suits the portrayal of a computer-dominated life. And like an e-mail conversation, the tense often changes, the topics jump back and forth, and the narrators occasionally change, mostly alternating between the Linux man himself and Red Herring executive editor David Diamond, who convinced the difficult-to-pin-down Torvalds to write his story (or at least allow Diamond to poke, prod, and pull it out of him, all the while giving his own impressions and interpretations). But Torvald's tale contains enough informative and entertaining tidbits--on growing up in dark, strangely silent but communication-gadget-obsessed Finland (which boasts more cell phones per capita than anywhere else), on what makes passionate code writers tick, on making the transition from unknown computer geek to world-famous computer geek, on the convergence of technology and ideology, on his work for Transmeta and involvement (or lack thereof) with all the players worth mentioning in Silicon Valley - to keep more than just computer programmers engrossed in his story. For the latter, of course, Just for Fun will be required reading.

If you pick up this book as a geek's guide to the meaning of life (which, believe it or not, Torvalds does ramble on about at the beginning and the end), then you're in for a bit of a shallow take on the whole thing. But if you're interested in the idea of technological development as a global team sport, and how a nerdy Finnish transplant to California got the whole game going in the first place, check out Linus's story... just for fun, of course. --S. Ketchum

From Publishers Weekly
The autobiography of a career computer programmer, even an unorthodox one, may sound less than enthralling, but this breezy account of the life of Linux inventor Torvalds not only lives up to its insouciant title, it provides an incisive look into the still-raging debate over open source code. In his own words (interspersed with co-writer Diamond's tongue-in-cheek accounts of his interviews with the absentminded Torvalds), the programmer relates how it all started in 1981 with his grandfather back in Finland, who let him play around on a Vic 20 computer. At 11 years old, Torvalds was hooked on computersespecially on figuring out how they ran and on improving their operating systems. For years, Torvalds did little but program, upgrading his hardware every couple of years, attending school in a desultory fashion and generally letting the outside world float by unnoticed, until he eventually wrote his own operating system, Linux. In a radical move, he began sharing the code with fellow OS enthusiasts over the burgeoning Internet in the early 1990s, allowing others to contribute to and improve it, while he oversaw the process. Even though Torvalds is now a bigger star in the computer world than Bill Gates, and companies like IBM are running Linux on their servers, he has retained his innocence: the book is full of statements like "Open source makes sense" and "Greed is never good" that seem sincere. Leavened with an appealing, self-deprecating sense of humor and a generous perspective that few hardcore coders have, this is a refreshing read for geeks and the techno-obsessed. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Time Magazine
"Some people are born to lead millions. Others are born to write world-changing software. Only one person does both: Torvalds."

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Of the many characters who've arisen in 50 years of the computer revolution, few are more intriguing than Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux. Here's a guy who created the first Linux kernel in his bedroom, as a hobby -- starting a snowball rolling that may yet bury Microsoft in an avalanche. He seems to preside over his own personal global revolution with amiability, equanimity, bemusement -- and far less evident greed than you'd expect from your typical technology titan.

Ever wonder what it's like being Linus? How he got that way? What motivates him? Read his new quasi-autobiography, Just for Fun, and wonder no more.

We suspect when the mainstream press reviews this book, they'll cluck over amusing tidbits like Linus describing who picks his wardrobe: "...it's the marketing staff for high-tech companies, the people who select the T-shirts and jackets that will be given away free at conferences. These days, I dress pretty much exclusively in vendorware, so I never have to pick out clothes."

Or, Linus on meeting his wife: "She had more of an impact on my life than even Andrew Tanenbaum's book, Operating Systems Design and Implementation."

The tidbits are embedded in a narrative that starts with a look at growing up in Finland, where "we have a healthy share of both alcoholics and fans of tango dancing. Spend a winter in Finland, and you understand the roots of all the drinking. There's no excuse for the tangoistas..." You'll learn why he started writing Linux, why he open-sourced it, and how he handles celebrity: "Take a person whose life-long philosophy has been to have fun and do something interesting, then add some money and fame, and what do you expect will happen? Instant philanthropist? I don't think so."

The whole book's laid-back fun with a purpose. Here's Linus's management philosophy: "...the same as it was when I coded away in my bedroom: I don't proactively delegate as much as I wait for people to come forward and volunteer to take over things.... I try to manage by not making decisions and letting things occur naturally. That's when you get the best results."

As Torvalds sees it, fun isn't just, well, fun: It's the inevitable, desirable direction of human evolution. "...neither business nor technology will change the basic nature of human needs and yearnings...[which] move away from plain survival through a society based on communication and finally into the realm of entertainment..."

If you're not having fun, you're not meeting your evolutionary destiny. In the longterm, you'll have to solve that problem for yourself, but in the shortterm, read this book. You will have fun. (Bill Camarda)

Bill Camarda is a consultant and writer with nearly 20 years' experience in helping technology companies deploy and market advanced software, computing, and networking products and services. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks For Dummies®, Second Edition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Ten years ago, college student Linus Torvalds retreated to his own computer to write code. He quips, "I couldn't afford software that I liked, so I wrote my own operating system." Not only did he write the operating system, he gave it away and invited other software engineers to improve it.

The rest is history. Today, Torvalds has become the key figure in the open source software movement. The powerful operating system he wrote, Linux, has grown into a major force in the computer industry, while its voluntary development model has made Linux the world's largest collaborative project. Hundreds of the world's best engineers contribute to the improvement of Linux. Over 12 million machines, including many of the servers that power the World Wide Web, now run on Linux, as do the top-of-the-line offerings from such hardware giants as IBM and Compaq.

Just for Fun chronicles Torvalds's amazing life—from his eccentric childhood in Finland, to his gangly, geeky teenage years when his greatest joy was writing programs on his grandfather's VIC-20 computer, to his rise to world-wide fame with Linux. Brimming with Torvalds's candid observations and opinions, this is a must-read for anyone who wants to know where high tech and business are going in the future.

FROM THE CRITICS

Time

Some people are born to lead millions. Others are born to write world-changing software. Only one person does both: Torvalds.

Time Magazine

Some people are born to lead millions. Others are born to write world-changing software. Only one person does both: Torvalds.

Publishers Weekly

The autobiography of a career computer programmer, even an unorthodox one, may sound less than enthralling, but this breezy account of the life of Linux inventor Torvalds not only lives up to its insouciant title, it provides an incisive look into the still-raging debate over open source code. In his own words (interspersed with co-writer Diamond's tongue-in-cheek accounts of his interviews with the absentminded Torvalds), the programmer relates how it all started in 1981 with his grandfather back in Finland, who let him play around on a Vic 20 computer. At 11 years old, Torvalds was hooked on computersespecially on figuring out how they ran and on improving their operating systems. For years, Torvalds did little but program, upgrading his hardware every couple of years, attending school in a desultory fashion and generally letting the outside world float by unnoticed, until he eventually wrote his own operating system, Linux. In a radical move, he began sharing the code with fellow OS enthusiasts over the burgeoning Internet in the early 1990s, allowing others to contribute to and improve it, while he oversaw the process. Even though Torvalds is now a bigger star in the computer world than Bill Gates, and companies like IBM are running Linux on their servers, he has retained his innocence: the book is full of statements like "Open source makes sense" and "Greed is never good" that seem sincere. Leavened with an appealing, self-deprecating sense of humor and a generous perspective that few hardcore coders have, this is a refreshing read for geeks and the techno-obsessed. (May) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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